Stock Futures Off, Zynga Plunges

Written by: Andrea Tse07/26/13 - 9:07 AM EDT

Tickers in this article:
AMZN NWL SBUX SWK TYC ZNGA ^DJI ^GSPC ^IXIC

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a weaker open on Wall Street Friday as investors paused on a relatively quiet session for earnings and data, turning their attention toward the two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting that ends next Wednesday and the widely watched U.S. government nonfarm payrolls report on Friday of the coming week.

Futures for the S&P 500 were falling 6.75 points, that's 7.7 points below fair value, to 1,677.25. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 58 points, or 65.61 points below fair value, to 15,426. Futures for the Nasdaq were declining 4.75 points, or 9.52 points below fair value, to 3,045.25.

"The Federal Reserve is going to give more detail in color next week. ... We see the scope for yields to move a little higher," Ira Jersey, a U.S. interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse in New York, said on the phone.

Amazon was slipping 1.37% to $299.25 following second-quarter earnings that sharply missed estimates as the company continued to invest for future growth. For the third quarter, Amazon expects revenue to be between $15.45 billion and $17.15 billion, growing between 12% and 24% year over year.

Zynga was plunging more than 17% to $2.90 after the social-networking games maker said it will abandon plans to set foot in the online-gambling business in the U.S.

Shares of Starbucks were surging nearly 7%, to $72.88, in premarket trading Friday, after the coffee chain posted fiscal third-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street expectations . Starbucks' Americas segment is "firing on all cylinders," fueled by a "transformed and reinvented food program," Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said on the conference call.

Stanley Black & Decker was rising more than 1% to $83.50 after the tool maker posted second-quarter earnings that beat estimates by two cents at $1.21 a share as revenue exceeded estimates as well, amid a rise in sales in the company's industrial, construction, and do-it-yourself units.

A number of other stocks were also poised for noteworthy share price action Friday after posting their quarterly earnings reports.

Newell Rubbermaid reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings of 50 cents a share on revenue of $1.47 billion, driven by strength in the consumer goods company's Latin America market and productivity improvements. The Wall Street target for the quarter was earnings of 49 cents a share on revenue of $1.47 billion, according to Thomson Reuters .

Tyco International posted fiscal third-quarter earnings of 50 cents a share on revenue of $2.7 billion, vs. the average analyst estimate of 48 cents a share on revenue of $2.71 billion, amid strength in the company's recurring and service revenue base despite a 4% decline in installation revenue.

Christine Short, an associate director for global markets intelligence at S&P Capital IQ, states that as of the end of Thursday's regular trading session, 234 companies had reported earnings results for the second quarter. Of those companies, 155 beat analysts' estimates, 56 missed and 23 met. Short said that this produces a beat rate of 66%, above the historical average.